Arigato Sushi, in the Fair Lakes Shopping Center, is not so different from many other Japanese restaurants that dot the strip-mall landscape of Northern Virginia. It's tidy, efficient and friendly, with blond wood counters and an array of sushi on the menu, including the seemingly requisite, gimmicky signature roll that bears the restaurant's name.
But amid a sea of sprawling chain stores and chain restaurants (think Olive Garden and Applebee's), Arigato, which has but one sibling, in Fairfax, is still a breath of fresh air.
Walk inside and you're likely to be hailed with a chorus of greetings from the three or so sushi chefs working behind the counter at the rear of the dining room. Once seated, you'll notice the copies of old photographs hanging on the walls, not for the pictures themselves but for the ingenious cardboard frames in which they are displayed, each one unique. The restaurant used to have cardboard chairs as well, but time took its toll on those. (Both the chairs and the picture frames were the work of an employee who has since departed.)
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Sushi is the restaurant's mainstay, says owner Ryong Park. That is not surprising, since the a la carte sushi menu includes 80 choices. And thanks to the variety and freshness of the fish, it's hard to go wrong here.
It's tempting to head straight for the special rolls. There are 25 to choose from, and a few of them are practically a meal in themselves. The Arigato roll features three types of fish (salmon, tuna and yellowtail), plus fried rice and fish roe, all bound together with a spicy sauce. It's a satisfying, if busy, combination.
Even better is the oyster roll, which pairs plump, deep-fried oysters with crunchy julienned cucumber. But don't neglect some of the simpler nigiri sushi choices, those that come in two pieces per order. The Apolo is especially tasty, featuring delicate diced scallop mixed with scallions and bound with spicy mayonnaise and tiny beads of fish roe.
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Arigato also offers a full menu beyond sushi, with appetizers ranging from Japanese pickled vegetables to broiled yellowtail jaw, and standard entrees that include teriyaki, tempura, hot pots and Japanese-style grilled and fried meats.
Upon being seated, dinner guests are treated to a trio of complimentary appetizers: steamed edamame beans, pickled turnip and Arigato balls -- tortellini-shaped fried dumplings stuffed with cream cheese and scallions. The latter are worth a mention more for their novelty than for their bland flavor.
One appetizer worth mentioning for flavor is the deep-fried cuttlefish -- that is, if you're not put off by tentacles. The lightly breaded pieces are chewier than calamari but with a similar nutty taste.
The kitchen does a competent job with tempura, which is light and not too greasy. Seafood tempura, which includes battered fish, shrimp and scallops, is piled high on the dinner plate like a small volcano, with dipping sauce on the side.
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At dinner, service is swift but not rushed. Lunch is more of an exercise in efficiency, presumably to accommodate the business people and shoppers who come for the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. The check arrived at my table before I was halfway through my meal, even though I was not partaking in the buffet. (Sushi, to my mind, is not meant to be consumed in gargantuan portions.)
That unnecessary gesture distracted me momentarily from the lovely bowl of curry udon that I was enjoying, and I wondered why the server couldn't have waited just a few more minutes. Nevertheless, the soup itself was good, a more robust version of typical udon, with fat, slippery noodles and garnishes of spinach, seaweed, fish cake and half a hard-boiled egg in a spicy yellow curry broth.
Since my bill had already been calculated, I decided to skip dessert (the usual choices, including ginger or green tea ice cream). As I left, the twinge of annoyance I was still feeling suddenly dissipated as a chorus of hearty "goodbyes" and "thank yous" followed me out the door.
Got a restaurant recommendation? Send an e-mail to Domenica Marchetti at dfm1@verizon.net.
Uniquely framed photographs adorn the interior, above left. Menu options include sushi and sashimi combos such as this one, above right.Chef Yun Young, above, prepares an order at Arigato Sushi. Among the 25 special rolls offered is the Spider Roll, at right, with fried soft-shell crab and cucumber.
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